1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a footrest apparatus used with a vehicle seat.
2. Description of Related Art
A footrest (ottoman) apparatus, of the related art, for use with a vehicle seat is disclosed in, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2008-49066.
This footrest apparatus is provided with a fixed member (bracket) which is fixed to a vehicle seat, an extendable link mechanism which is supported at one end (rear end) thereof by the fixed member, a footrest which is supported by the other end (front end) of the link mechanism, and a gas damper (biaser), the ends of which are connected to the fixed member and the link mechanism, respectively. The gas damper is provided with a cylinder which is fixed to the fixed member, a piston which is slidable with respect to the cylinder, the end (outer end) of the piston being connected to the link mechanism, and a locking device which locks and unlocks the extension/contraction operation of the gas damper (the sliding operation of the piston with respect to the cylinder). The aforementioned link mechanism has mutually-associated pairs of link members (which rotate in synchronization with each other).
When each of the link mechanism and the gas damper is in a contracted state and the locking device is in a locked state, the footrest is in the retracted position, in which the footrest is positioned close to the fixed member.
Releasing the locked state of the locking device causes the link mechanism to extend by the biasing force of the gas damper (the moving force of the piston), thus causing the footrest to move from the retracted position into an operating range in front of the retracted position. Subsequently, returning the locking device to the locked state upon the footrest moving to a proper position (desired position) for the occupant causes the gas damper to become impossible to extend or contract, which prevents the link mechanism from changing in shape. Consequently, the footrest is held in this position, thus allowing the occupant who sits in the seat to place his/her legs on the footrest.
However, the above described link mechanism has the drawback that it is low in mechanical strength.